The following is old winter news, written during a visit to America. Reading it over now just reinforces my feelings of joy at returning to Israel. The Haitus rekindled my knitting interest.

Now guys out there, please refrain from pressing that delete button. Starting up where one left off in fine manual skills is easy. 90 ear olds are puttering, sculpting in wood. Following a plan.

It has been 65 years since I learned to knit. Guys and gals, did you make yards of intestinal shaped knitted looking snakes that jumped out of the center of wood spools ringed with nails on top?

I collected spare wool yarn from my neighbors and my father (O.B.M.) taughtt me to “snake knit” working across a nail-studded empty thread wood spool that he punched 6 nails into. By pulling wool across the nail and looping it, a knit stitch was created at every nail.

We called the result a useless snake. This effort was boring. Can’t remember the working implement, a paper clip?

Before that, my father (O.B.M.) set up bleached bland potholder loops across a red metal frame. That was a loom. A metal hook came in the loom box to loop up and over the loops.

That loom was primitively slow just like doing embroidery. My stash of spare wool yarn grew. Not off the subject of knitting is squirreling away bales of wool or craft supplies for that future project. Knitters can’t suffer to part with the ghosts of years past. Woven into those masses are dreams and hopes.

During that last trip, my knitter aquaintances met around a table in an old bank converted to a knitting “studio”. That’s what a yarn shop is called today. A lady, in her 80’s had moved from Chevy Chase to an Independent Living Facility. her downsizing from a huge home to 3 rooms. She admitted her yarn stash is concealed in her breakfront. Come to think of it, a good place to hide some cash.

Her project was patchwork squares.

The local girl’s yeshivah has a knitters group. Did she think of giving her pile to a good cause? She took the information to connect with the school.

At about 10 mom taught me how to knit. My older brother is wearing a vest of hers in a photo, She introduced me to a yarn shop where we bought multicolored thread and cross stitch patterns. That’s where at 15 years of age, my first 4-ounce skeins from giant cartons were purchased in a shop on Rutland Road in Brooklyn.

Thirty years later, my greatest satisfaction didn’t derive from a plain wool sweater that I I knitted, but rather that I was able to follow the instructions. The color choices were limited to maroon, charcoal grey, black and bottle green. There were no knitting magazines at that time.

The owner of the knitting shop was shown a photo from Seventeen magazine and after a few crucial examining minutes added numbers to a crude outline for cast on, cast off, and rows. I liked that every few lines a number was in brackets to indicate the exact number of stitches remaining on the needle. That way I knew that I was correctly following her handwritten instructions.

The following is my first American project. Each wool skein change colors. In other words, it is variegated. The border is Angora. There is a collar, while the instructions did not call for a collar. This was risky, but the instructions left me no choice. There was a lack of detail in the instructions. No written roadmap in brackets. The yarn is magnificent but not forgiving about being ripped out. My collar is in a different place than in the instruction photo.

Cheryl is from the Knitting circle.

Svetlana’s Shop: in Sandy Spring Maryland: https://sooriginal.com/

The photos of the woman proudly showing off their handiwork is charming. I prefer to have the work speak for itself. Svetlana has many devoted students. Hopefully, her site will expand the business.

The idea of knitting a cape only occurred to me when temperatures tumbled in Silver Spring Maryland. The above one is upside-down. Svetlana”s wool was replaced by scraps. Above is the result..This is so dazzling. The yarn comes colored throughout. No need to change yarn. The bottom photo is a cape that a friend knitted. Working on circular needles opens up endless possibilities.

The last image and the one at the top differ in the color range. Svetlana is a master of color. Observe the forest green used twice and in mine, the grey is used twice in the first. Notice the cape with a maroon color repeated earlier in the post.

This is very much the method of a landscape painter, juxtaposing one color against another.

In the above: What started out as a baby blanket became a bolero jacket. The last is a cape using a “Brioche” stitch that I learned from Svetlana. I didn’t use the Noro yarn, which costs close to $50.00 for my first cape.

All of my creations have come in handy as we are experiencing a lengthy wet winter preceding a glorious Spring.

Following are announcements concerning Jerusalem Events:

Culture Under the House
The event will take place next Thursday, 3/5, between 17: 30-19: 00 in the central park at the HaMikabat (Justice Haim Cohen Street).
Next Culture Below Events:
On Wednesday, 9/5, at the Grove Garden in the Talpiot-Arnona neighborhood (4 Barzilai St.).
On Wednesday, May 16, at Gidon Park in the Baka neighborhood (where the event was postponed on 11/4).
On Wednesday 23/5, in the community garden at Makor Haim (Ben Dov Street).
We will be happy to see you in pleasant spring weather,
Community Council of Greater Baka
Contact:

“Moe” Berg: Sportsman, Scholar, Spy

Morris “Moe” Berg, a professional baseball player who also served his country as an intelligence officer, lived a life many can only dream of. A true Renaissance man, Berg graduated from Princeton University, passed the New York State bar exam and learned eight languages.

After graduating from college in 1923, Moe played 15 seasons of major-league baseball as a shortstop, catcher and coach. Pictured are his cards as coach of the Boston Red Sox in 1940 and as catcher for the Washington Senators (from 1932 – 34).

Mixing Baseball and Intelligence

Berg’s entrance into the field of intelligence began when he, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and other baseball greats formed an all-star team and traveled to Japan in the mid-1930s for exhibition games. Proficient in Japanese, Berg talked his way into one of the tallest buildings in Tokyo. He climbed to the rooftop alone and used a movie camera to film the capital city’s shipyards. Reportedly, the US used Berg’s footage to plan bombing raids over Tokyo in World War II.

OSS Intelligence Career Highlights

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Berg initially joined the White House’s new Office of Inter-American Affairs but left for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in 1943. He became a paramilitary officer and carried out various intelligence operations in Europe, including parachuting into Yugoslavia to evaluate resistance groups there.

By 1945 Berg had been tasked to determine whether Nazi Germany was close to having a nuclear weapon. Using his language skills and charm, he managed to locate and chat with Werner Heisenberg, a top physicist in the Third Reich. Berg accurately determined that the answer was “no.”

Berg stayed with the OSS until it dissolved in 1945. Afterward, he served on the staff of NATO’s Advisory Group for Aeronautical Research and Development.

A Word from Berg Before his death in 1972, Berg said, “Maybe I’m not in the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame like so many of my baseball buddies, but I’m happy I had the chance to play pro ball and am especially proud of my contributions to my country. Perhaps I could not hit like Babe Ruth, but I spoke more languages than he did.”

The baseball cards pictured here are held in the CIA Museum’s collection.

The Center @ Lenox Hill Neighborhood House provides an unparalleled experience for older adults in Manhattan and is open 365 days a year from 8:00am to 8:00pm. Membership is free and you must be a New York City resident, sixty and over, to be eligible to apply. The Center leverages Lenox Hill Neighborhood House’s existing resources and facilities – Health and Wellness, Fitness and Aquatics, Legal Advocacy, Food Services, Visual and Performing Arts, Adult Education and more – to offer a full calendar of daily programming for more than 2,500 active members, serving an average of 250 clients each day. The Center serves three non Kosher meals a day every day of the year. The Neighborhood House is a leader in the farm-to-institution movement, providing fresh, healthy, and locally-sourced food to members. In addition, the Center offers members a packed offering of 15 to 20 activities daily. Current offerings include three to five fitness classes daily; language classes, arts, crafts, and culture; games; 8-week computer classes; additional technology offerings; for membership:

There are other such Senior Centers in Manhattan. If you have not been to the new Educational Alliance it is worth the trip. The Educational Alliance, is now called the Manny Cantor Center.

The Educational Alliance features prominently in the Social Realism Movement. During the early 20th Century, the Alliances art class instructors promoted the Ashcan School whose members include Peter Blume, Adolph Gottlieb, Louise Nevelson, Barnet Newman, Mark Rothko and Max Weber.
Some of the original artworks by Chiam Soyer are on the new Art School walls.

Undeniably, the Art School does not control as much space in the building as when I was a student in 2001. The glorious floor to ceiling windows are gone. The expansive windows are part of the senior dining room.
There is no membership fee for the senior center.
A visit to New York includes many offerings thru the Senior Center network. Aladin is offered thru the Hudson GUILD. I saw Hot Mess at the Jerry Orbach Theater.

I don’t know which came first : The idea of fluidity in sexual identity, or the portrayal of it’s expanding boundaries on the stage.

The first conference will take place: Friday, Erev Shabbat Chayei Sara, November 10th at 9:00 am. We will be hosting our friends from AFSI (American Friends for a Safe Israel), headed by Helen Freedman and Judy Kadish, at Oz VeGaon.
Save the Date! For a fascinating Sovereignty morning in English (with simultaneous translation to Hebrew). This will be the first in a series of conferences with lectures on the topic of Sovereignty which we will please G-d, held every few weeks at different locations throughout Israel.

Ken Abramowitz will be coming and will lecture in English on the topic: “How to Save Western Civilization from itself”

He will be followed by Karen Stahl-Don, LLM, MA, an attorney who will lecture on the topic: “Why International Law is Israel’s Best Friend.”

For more details please see the email messages below. I hope you can attend.

Thanks to all those who have signed up already. If you haven’t signed up yet please sign up ASAP if you are interested. Please do not leave a voice message on my cell phone.

If you are coming, please be considerate of your friends and be on time!

There may be stops in Ramot, Ramat Eshkol, the Inbal, and Derech Chevron if people request it.

Deadline for reservations is 1:00 pm Thursday.

on the van, and from which location.

Looking forward to hearing from you and seeing you soon,

Renee

052 3294 194

Dear Friends,

BS”D

HaRav Meir David Kahane ZT”L HY”D – The 27th Yahrzeit

TODAY, MORE THAN EVER: EVERYONE KNOWS RABBI KAHANE WAS RIGHT!

Join us – Family, Friends, Students, Public Figures – as we mark the 27th Yahrzeit of the Rav-Scholar-Warrior for the Torah of the unique Jewish Idea, on TUESDAY 18 Marcheshvan/7 November.The following events are in HEBREW. (See below for information on the English Memorial, two days earlier):

* STARTING AT NOON: Shiurim at Yeshivat HaRa’ayon HaYehudi, 11 Shmarya St. (btwn. Shmuel HaNavi and Arzei HaBira), Jerusalem.
* 15:30 bus from Yeshiva to Har HaMenuchot
* 16:00Graveside memorial at the Rav’s kever
* 18:00 Memorial program at Heichal David Hall, Ohaliav 14, Romema (near Central Bus Station), Jerusalem. The Rav’s family, students, rabbis and public figures will be participating, and sale of books and other memorabilia will be taking place.

A musical memorial service for Rabbi Meir David Kahana and Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach with rabbis and musicians Rabbi Chaim Dovid Rabbi Shmuel HaCohen Rabbi Yigal Shandorfi Rabbi Yehuda Richter Rabbi Baruch Marzel Rabbi Mike Gazovsky will be held with the help of God on Wed, Nov 8 at seven o’clock in the club of the community of Nachliel. The minimum contribution for expenses is 20 NIS. Welcome! I will pay those who do not have the money to come with musical instruments. Please publish this message – anyone who wants to say what he is invited to go on stage

How to make Hot Chili Sauce: We enjoyed a really hot Chilli sauce at Shayan Restaurant;

You’ll need:

15 fresh chili peppers, thinly sliced.

2 teaspoons salt (or to taste)

2 heads of garlic, peeled.

1¼ cups neutral oil (like vegetable or canola) or omit

1 cup Sichuan chili flakes.

½ teaspoon sugar.

2 tablespoons regular or light soy sauce or omit

Combine chili, oil, sugar, vinegar, garlic in a saucepan over high heat. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 7 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly. …

The following is not an official KLE event, but rather a personal shiur by one of the beloved KLE teachers, Peta Jones Pellach.

Katamon Learning Experience …

a personal letter from Peta:

My mother’s shloshim was officially last, Sunday which I marked by teaching in her honour.

​

However, this was not 30 counted days as the Chagim truncated even the shloshim. So, on the actual 30th day since her passing, my cousin, Tania Hammer, has offered to host us for some women’s learning in my mother’s memory.

The theme will be “Brachot” and we will say some and learn some together.

I am hoping that some of you will agree to share and teach one bracha with us, so please RSVP

Tel Kedesh, was one of the sites in the upper Galil and Golan that our group visited last Tuesday/Wednesday. I am writing about the stops is no particular order. What is striking about this huge region is the diversity of the terrain’s stark beauty. Each ruin when set against a clear blue sky is regal. Also, the site has had several university archeologists document it’s importance in Jewish History. Our trip begins with Kedesh, a City of Refuge

Moses instructed the Israelites that they were to appoint three “cities of refuge” once they crossed Jordan under the leadership of Moses (Deut. 19:2). The stated purpose of these (as well as the three cities on the other (eastern) side of Jordan, was to provide a safety net for one who had accidentally killed his neighbor (an example given in the text was when the ax head flew off the handle, resulting in a fatal wound).

The city to which you would flee would be the one closest to you. You would live there until the death of the High Priest. The following map shows all 6 cities of refuge.

Cities of Refuge. Map by Scott Richardson

The city of refuge to the north in Galilee was Kedesh.

Kedesh in Galilee. One of the cities of Refuge. Photo by Leon Mauldin.

In center and to the left you can see the ruins of this ancient city.

A Canaanite city in Galilee, in the territory of Naphtali, whose ruler was one of the 31 kings vanquished by Joshua (Josh. 12:22). To distinguish it from other cities with the same name it was also referred to as Kedesh in Galilee in Mount Naphtali (Josh. 20:7).

It was given to the Levites and was a city of refuge (Josh. 21:32). A name which may possibly refer to Kedesh appears in the lists of Tuthmosis III and in the El Amarna letters. It was conquered by Tiglath-Pileser III, King of Assyria (2 Kgs. 15:29), who deported its inhabitants. In the Hellenistic period it is mentioned in the Zenon papyri. Josephus knew it in a different form as the name of a village in the territory of Tyre (Antiq. ii, 459; iv, 104–5)

Titus pitched his camp in the vicinity of the village of Cydasa of the Tyrians, because ‘this was a strong inland village of the Tyrians, always at feud and strife with the Galileans’ (War iv, 104-f). Eusebius (Onom. 116:10) calls it ‘the city of Kydisos’, in the vicinity of Paneas, some 20 miles from Tyre.

A Roman temple and a mausoleum of the same period were discovered there. Identified with Tell Qades, 12 miles north of Safed, where there are two ancient mounds, one of which was occupied from the 3rd millennium BC to the end of the Israelite period.

Since 1981 the Roman temple has been excavated by a team of Tel Aviv University under the direction of I. Roll. Little of the upper structure of the temple has survived. The entire compound was surrounded by a wall. The temple (60 feet by 54 feet) was built of exquisitely-dressed ashlars. Its eastern façade rose to a height of 33 feet. At the western wall of the shrine is an apse, apparently a later addition which may have held Jupiter’s statue. The triple doors of the temple are richly decorated. On the lintels are engraved Jupiter’s eagle, a wreath in which was a rosette, bunches of grapes, a vine trellis, acanthus leaves, a deer, and a man’s head. According to three Greek inscriptions, the temple was dedicated in AD 117/8 under Hadrian, and repairs were made in ad 214/5 and 280 (The Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land).

According to Jewish tradition, Deborah the prophetess, Barak the son of Abinoam and Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, as also Heber, were buried near the spring beneath the town of Kedesh.

We ended our trip with a visit to Tel Hai.

Tel Hai was first settled as an agricultural courtyard for six workers from a northern colony Metulla in 1907. The land for the outpost was purchased by Haim Kalvarisky, a clerk of the Jewish Colonization Association. Later, it was a border outpost in 1918, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire. The area was subsequently subject to intermittent border adjustments among the British and French colonial powers.

The Lion of Judah, Joseph Trumpeldor‘s memorial in Tel Chai. It was at Tel Chai where our group heard of the starvation conditions suffered by the farmers. The Battle of Tel Chai was fought in March 1920 during the Franco-Syrian War between Arab irregulars under the banner of the Arab Kingdom of Syria and a Jewish defensive paramilitary force protecting the village of Tel Hai in Northern Galilee. In the course of the event, a Shiite Arab militia, accompanied by Bedouin from a nearby village, attacked the Jewish agricultural locality of Tel Hai. In the aftermath of the battle eight Jews and five Arabs were killed. Joseph Trumpeldor, the commander of Jewish defenders of Tel Chai, was shot in the hand and stomach, and died while being evacuated to Kfar Giladi that evening. Tel Hai was eventually abandoned by the Jews and burned by the Arab militia. The event is perceived by some scholars as the first significant outbreak of violence, eventually leading to the Arab–Israeli conflict three decades later.

Exra, our guide informed us of important events influencing the region.

The Zionist movement was greatly displeased with this, since it would have left the sources of the Jordan River outside the borders of British Mandatory Palestine, where the Zionist state envisaged in the Balfour Declaration was to be established. Therefore, the few isolated settlements in this territory assumed a strategic value from the Zionist point of view. Still, there was a fierce debate among factions and leaders of the Yishuv, some of whom advocated letting Tel Hai and the other outposts hang on at all costs, while others regarded their situation as untenable and advocated withdrawing from them.

Arabs in this area at the time were not primarily involved in activities against the early Jewish militias, but rather in strongly opposing the imposition of the French Mandate of Syria, which they regarded as betrayal of the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence made during the Arab Revolt against Ottoman rule. In a letter dated the 24th of October, 1915, Sir Henry McMahon, then His Majesty’s High Commissioner in Egypt, promises the Sharif of Mecca, Husayn ibn Ali, to “recognize and support the independence of the Arabs within the territories proposed by him (Sharif of Mecca).” These territories included the Arabian peninsula, Syria (including Lebanon, Palestine, and Transjordan), and Iraq as “purely Arab” areas and part of a future Arab state or states in the region.

As described above, The Zionist militias in Tel Chai, headed by the Russian-born Jewish commander Joseph Trumpeldor

wanted the area to be restored to British control which they hoped would eventually lead to its becoming part of a future Jewish state. However, as newcomers to the area recently arrived from Europe, they were suspected of being pro-French, which ultimately led to armed clashes.

Tel Hai 1946 .

In sum, six of the Tel Hai Jews were killed and the remaining Jews retreated, whereupon the place was burned. The total number of killed was 13 (5 Muslims and 8 Jews). The British and the French, at the behest of the Zionists, ultimately agreed this area of Upper Galilee was to be included in Mandatory Palestine. It was thus possible for Tel Chai to be resettled in 1921, though it did not become a viable independent community and in 1926 it was absorbed into the kibbutz of Kfar Giladi.

Tel Chai monument

A Jewish national monument in Upper Galilee, Israel commemorates the deaths of eight Jews (six men and two women), among them the Russian-born Jewish commander Joseph Trumpeldor, who fell in the above-detailed engagement on 1 March 1st 1920. The resolute actions of Trumpeldor and his colleagues against a much larger Arab force inspired the Jews of Jerusalem.The memorial is known for a statue of a defiant lion representing Trumpeldor and his comrades. The city of Kiryat Shemona, literally Town of the Eight was named after them.

Metzudat Koach,

Nabi Yusha police fortress. 1948-In Arabic, Navi Yoef.

This article is about the British Mandate-time police fort.

The Nabi Yusha fort, renamed Metzudat Koach (Hebrew: מצודת כ”ח‎‎), is a police fort built by the British Mandate administration during the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine and currently used by the Israel Border Police.The site around the fort contains a stone monument and a new museum (founded in 2014), together constituting the Metzudat Koach Memorial, which commemorates 28 Israeli soldiers who died during the 1948 conquest of the strategically important fort. The fort and observation point is located in the Upper Galilee, close to an abandoned Shia shrine of Nabi Yusha (“Prophet Joshua“). The Hebrew word “ko’ach” (כח) has a double meaning: as a common noun it means “strength”, while its numerical value according to gematria is 28, the number of the fallen soldiers.

By mid-April 1948, the British army had evacuated most of Upper Galilee. A number of key points were subsequently occupied by Arab forces, including the police fort at Nabi Yusha. This fort commanded the main road to Upper Galilee and the routes to the Jewish settlements of Ramot Naftali and Manara. The Palmach understood that this observation point had a strategic importance for the safety and future of the kibbutzim below.

In the evening hours of April 15, the police station was attacked by a company composed of Golani, Palmach and irregulars from nearby Jewish settlements, which moved in two armored cars and two armored Egged buses. Strong fire was opened on the attacking force which was compelled to withdraw. 4 Jews were killed.

On April 20, a second attempt was made to occupy the fort by a force from the third Palmach battalion. A small force succeeded in breaking the barriers and reaching the wall but two of its members were hit, which delayed the detonation of the explosives until their evacuation. During their evacuation, enemy fire was directed at them and many of the unit soldiers were killed. The troops fought to their last man. Altogether, 22 Jews were killed in the battle.

During the night of May 16/17, a company of the third battalion of the Yiftach Brigade occupied the fort after driving away their enemy. On the next day, two of the soldiers were killed.

Metulla wasn’t always the peaceful and prosperous town that it is today. When the Baron bought his land, the local tenants who had been living on the property were furious. They made life miserable for the new farmers and, in 1920, bloody Arab riots forced the pioneers to evacuate their homes.

But Metulla residents were firmly resolved to settle the Upper Galilee, eventually returning to their little community. And it’s lucky that they did. For when the Land of Israel was divided between the English and the French in 1924, the British made sure that the thriving, ever-growing Metulla would be placed inside the British Mandate. Thus Metulla’s position at the tip of the Galilee eventually determined the northern border of the State of Israel.

Charming Metulla. (photo credit: Shmuel Bar-Am)

Metulla is best known, these days, for its Canada Center, with its huge swimming pool, and excellent ice rink. But what we like best about the town are its pastoral ambience, and the welcome tranquility that it offers its guests.

Beautiful Ma’ayan Park, situated at the entrance to Metulla, played an important part in the settlement’s development. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, its spring supplied settlers with all of their water. When it had outlived its usefulness, the spring became covered with weeds and refuse. Fortunately, the Jewish National Fund stepped in and turned the entire area into an enchanting park full of canals, footbridges and flowing water.

Another “must” is Har Hatzfiya (Lookout Mountain), located about a kilometer west of Metulla. Here you will stop at Mitzpe Dado, a lovely JNF overlook named for the late General David “Dado” Elazar, Israel’s chief of staff during the Yom Kippur War. The man affectionately called Dado was a war hero who first distinguished himself when he led a surprise attack on Arab forces in the Old City during the War of Independence and captured Mount Zion.

The spectacular view from Mitzpe Dado. (photo credit: Shmuel Bar-Am)

Many Israelis believe that this highly respected and exceptionally able commander was erroneously blamed for Israel’s lack of preparedness before the Yom Kippur War in 1973. He died of a heart attack in 1976, and some believe he actually died of a broken heart.

Mitzpe Dado offers superb views of Metulla’s old and new neighborhoods, the fertile Ayoun Valley, the majestic Hermon, and the Lebanese mountains. On the Lebanese side stand a runway and buildings, part of a British airport built during World War II but never used. This part of the valley used to belong to the residents of Metulla, but was granted to Lebanon after the War of Independence in an exchange that helped realign the border.

The Utirines

The area and the Itureans are mentioned only once in the New Testament, in the Luke iii. 1, but are frequently described by pagan writers such as Strabo, Pliny the Elder, and Cicero. The Jewish writer Josephus also described them. They were known to the Romans as a predatory people, and were appreciated by them for their great skill in archery. They played a notable role in the defense of Jerusalem. A southern branch of the Itureans dwelt in Galilee but were conquered by the Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus (r. 103 to 76 BCE) and, according to Josephus, forcibly converted to Judaism.

Tel Facher

Tel Faher was the site of an intense battle between the Israel Defense Forces and the Syrians which ended in the conquest of the outpost by the Golani Brigade. Tel Faher is now a park commemorating those who died in the battle.Tel Faher (or Golani Lookout) is a former Syrian outpost in the Golan Heights that has been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War in 1967. Tel Faher was the site of an intense battle between the Israel Defense Forces and the Syrians which ended in the conquest of the outpost by the Golani Brigade. Tel Faher is now a park commemorating those who died in the battle.

Tel Faher was the site of an intense battle between the Israel Defense Forces and the Syrians which ended in the conquest of the outpost by the Golani Brigade. Tel Faher is now a park commemorating those who died in the battle.

HISTORY: On June 6, Syria launched three attacks against Israeli positions: at Tel Dan, Kibbutz Dan and the village of She’ar Yashuv two kilometers inside Israeli territory. The attacks probably never had the purpose of capturing ground and were easily repulsed. However, a Syrian artillery observation officer reported “The enemy appears to have suffered heavy losses and is retreating.”

Thursday, June 8, 1967 (day 4)

On June 8, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) bombarded the Syrian positions on the Golan Heights throughout the day in an attempt to silence the Syrian guns and to press the Syrian government to rethink its position as Egypt and Jordan had now agreed to a cease fire.

It seemed the war was over after four days.

At 1910 hrs on Thursday evening, Eshkol tried once more to overcome Dayan’s objections.

Friday, June 9, 1967 (day 5)

Bird’s eye view of Tel Azaziat, Burj Babil, Tel Faher, Zaura

At 0600 hrs on Friday, June 9, Brig. Gen. Dado Elazar of the Northern Command was woken up by a phone call from Dayan: “Can you attack? Then attack.” Dayan had changed his mind. He told his chief of staff, “If the Syrians sit quietly, I won’t approve any action against them, but if in spite of all our restraint they continue shelling, I will recommend to the Cabinet that we take the entire Heights.” Operation Hammer had been planned as a night attack. It was dangerous enough even in darkness, but an assault on the Golan Heights during daylight would be suicidal. The offensive was planned for 1130 hrs to give the IAF enough of time to continue its bombardment and to give the Israeli combat engineers time to create a path through enemy mine fields. Fortunately the winter rains had exposed many of the mines and the Syrians had not replaced them. The IAF was dropping some 400 tons of ordnance on the Heights from Mount Hermon in the north to Tawfiq (near Hamat Gader) in the south, including some captured rockets from Egyptian stocks.

Contrary to Syrian expectations, the IDF was not planning to launch the initial attack via the Customs House road (opposite Gadot), but where the enemy least expected it, in a large pincer movement: in the north from the Galilee Panhandle, and on the opposite side from south of the Sea of Galilee.

The 8th Armored Brigade of Colonel Albert Mandler was moved from the Sinai theatre to Kfar Szold in the northern part of the Galilee Panhandle. It had only 33 serviceable M50 and M51 Sherman tanks. Within minutes, the Syrian guns opened fire, not against the advancing troops, but still to the Israeli settlements. Of the eight armored bulldozers five never made it to the top. The Syrians started to confront them with heavy fire.

First breakthrough

Half-track

A breakthrough was achieved between Givat HaEm and Tel Azaziat. Soon the tanks overran the abandoned Syrian position at Gur el Askar, shortly afterwards the strongpoint at Na’amush, while the Syrians were fleeing from the post.

Two hours after the 8th Armored Brigade began the offensive, the 1st Golani Infantry Brigade crossed the border at the same place to launch the assault on the entrenchments of Tel Faher and Tel Azaziat. The plan was to start the assault simultaneously from the back side.

While the capture of Tel Azaziat was done relatively easy, the attack on Tel Faher was difficult. The horseshoe-shaped fort was five kilometers inside the Golan Heights, protected with multiple guns, extensive mine fields and three belts of two-sided sloping fences and coiled barbed-wire. Despite the aerial bombardments the position remained relatively intact.

The leading half-tracks lost their way and approached the position where it was strongest instead from the rear. From a few hundred meters they came under heavy fire from the Syrians. One by one the nine Sherman tanks and 19 half-tracks were disabled by gunfire or mines.

Soldiers’ barracks

The internal Syrian army report showed failure in leadership, leading to chaos and desertion:

With the enemy just 700 meters away, under heavy shelling, the platoon in the front trench prepared for the battle. The platoon commander sent Private Jalil ‘Issa to the company commander to request permission to take cover, but ‘Issa could not find him. The platoon commander sent another runner who returned with Private Fajjar Hamdu Karnazi who reported on the company commander’s disappearance. When the enemy reached 600 meters, Sgt. Muhammad Yusuf Ibrahim fired a 10-inch anti-tank gun and knocked out the lead tank. But then he and his squad commander were killed. The enemy column advanced. First Sergeant Anwar Barbar, in charge of the second 10-inch gun, could not be found. The platoon commander searched for him but unsuccessfully…. Private Hajj al-Din, who was killed just minutes later, took the gun and fired it alone, knocking out two tanks and forcing the column to retreat. But when the platoon commander tried to radio the information to headquarters, nobody answered.

Two flanks of the Golani

Entry to bunker

The battalion commander Lieutenant-Colonel Moshe ‘Musa’ Klein ordered the 25 Golanis, who survived the initial Syrian fire, to attack the position from two flanks.

The southern part was heavy protected with bunkers, trenches and a double row of wire. Inside waited a company of the Syrian 187th Infantry Battalion with an arsenal of anti tank guns, machine guns and 82 mm mortars. Its Syrian captain remembered : “It was one of our most fortified positions. It placed the Israelis directly in our crosshairs.”

Northern flank

The Syrian commander of the northern part ordered his men not to fire until the Israelis reached the wire to catch them in a kill zone. Only minutes later, his deputy reported that “the Jews are already inside.”

The battle continued for three hours. Of the group of 13 who fought on the northern part 3 Israeli soldiers survived, and of the southern group of 12 only Corporal Yitzhak Hamawi survived.

“We ran, Musa (Klein) and I through the trenches. Whenever a helmet popped up, we couldn’t tell it was one of ours or not. Suddenly in front of us stood a soldier whom we couldn’t identify. The battalion commander shouted the password and when the soldier didn’t answer, he fired a burst at him but missed. We jumped out of the trench, ran five meters and then Musa fell on his face… killed by the Syrian soldier he’d missed. Our radioman waited for him to leap up again, then shot him.”

The Israelis suffered 31 killed and 82 wounded while 62 Syrians died and 20 were taken prisoner.

Aftermath

The IDF had achieved most of its goals of Operation Hammer even with heavy casualties. They penetrated no deeper than 8 miles into Syrian territory, but established a five mile wide bridgehead between Zaura and Qela. They used the night of 9/10 June to regroup and resupply its forces.

At the same time the Syrian Government was pleading with other Arab countries for military support, but no assistance was forthcoming. Syria realized that they now stood alone against the IDF.

The Golan Heights had fallen in just 31 hours.

Despite the few casualties, the kibbutzniks (kibbutz members) had been forced to live almost permanently in underground shelters. The pressure on the Israeli government grew daily. The daily newspaper HaAretz wrote “The time has come to settle accounts with those who started it all. It is time to finish the job.” While Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, himself a kibbutznik from Degania Bet, was highly sympathetic to the pleas, Defense

Minister Moshe Dayan was reluctant to open multiple fronts at the same time and worried about possible Russian intervention on behalf of the Syrians. Haim Ber, the spokesman of the settlements in the north, called Eshkol and shouted in desperation “We’re being shelled non-stop! We demand that the government free us from this nightmare!”

and Kla’at Namrud. The Nimrod Fortress or Nimrod Castle (Hebrew: מבצר נמרוד‎‎, Mivtzar Nimrod, “Nimrod’s Fortress”; Arabic: قلعة الصبيبة‎‎ Qal’at al-Subeiba, “Castle of the Large Cliff”, later Qal’at Namrud, “Nimrod’s Castle”) is a medieval Muslim castle situated on the southern slopes of Mount Hermon, on a ridge rising about 800 m (2600 feet) above sea level. It overlooks the Golan Heights and was built with the purpose of guarding a major access route to Damascus against armies coming from the west. The area is under Israeli occupation and administration since 1967 together with the adjacent Golan Heights. The international community sees the area as Syrian territory. It is so wonderful that the Syrians left this structure in such great shape when they retreated.

I am already planning the next trip.The region’s most spectacular ancient site is the ruin of Gamla, a Jewish town destroyed in A.D. 67 during the First Revolt against Rome, located on an especially beautiful and dramatic mountain ridge. The Golan is one of the areas where a rental car is most useful, although with luck, you might find a well-informed cabdriver in Tiberias to take you around the Golan for a special full or half-day deal. In summer, the plateau is blazing hot; in winter it can be bitterly cold and windy.

I don’t have exact measurement on hand, but you basically want to blend everything (soya cream, banana, sugar, pudding mix, tehina, chocolate or a handful of chopped strawberries) and freeze in a vat. Taste before freezing–it should taste somewhat on a sweeter side (when frozen it will be less sweet). When it’s half frozen you “slush” it with a metal spoon so that it doesn’t freeze as solid block of ice.

I have another great ice cream recipe that does not have eggs. 2 8oz whips or omit
2 boxes instant vanilla pudding
2 cups soy milk
whip the whips. add the pudding and soy milk and mix until all combined. You can add anything to it once it is all mixed. I put in chunks of halvah. You can add cookies pieces, diced fruit or any type of topping that you like. freeze.

Just last night this weary trouper returned from the Galil and the Golan. Ezra Rosenfeld’s group of 24 stayed overnight at the beautiful Amirei HaGalil Hotel – a magnificent, boutique spa-hotel with a chef-restaurant (see their website at http://www.amirey-hagalil.com/en/) The stay offered me the opportunity to indulge in a massage that was electrifying. The masseuses electric hands went chop chop chop, as if they were wired.

We visited the stone roads of the First Aliya settlement of Rosh Pina or Cornerstone or foundation stone as it represented a new beginning.

We learned that the town with the current name was founded in 1882 by thirty families who immigrated from Romania, making it one of the oldest Zionist settlements in Israel. It was preceded at the same location by the settlement of Gei Oni (“Valley of My Strength”) established by local Jews from Safed in 1878, which had been, however, almost fully abandoned by 1882.

Ezra explained that there were also two factions in the original group from Safed who argued about whether one was permitted to brush one’s hair on Shabat. It is over this dispute that the two factions parted.

The leader of the group from Roumania opened a hotel, and an inn which still stands on a quaint stone street. The original cheder is across the road. Small artists shops line narrow stairs, hugging the hill in the old area. On the same street, the settlement’s farm implements are strewn about.

In 2016 it had a population of 3,003.

Dear Friends, (the following was sent to me by Amanda of the Jerusalem community and volunteer gardens

..These are events happening in the Manginot Festival in Community Gardens around the Baka Neighborhood.

The idea is to draw people to be part of the community gardens.

Today I will be at “Ginat Ha Hava” on Lifshitz street where we will be talking about “Ecological footprints”at 16.30 followed by music at 18.00.

On Sunday 29/10 there will be a woodworking workshop at the Community Garden on Derech Hevron

On Friday 3/10 there will be Ethiopian Music at “Mizmor Le David” (Flyer in English attached)

There are other events in gardens across the city.

I do hope you can join in at a local garden.

Amanda

Beyond Chicken is a new product in the USA. As I do not know the Kashrut for the item, I am not recommending it. However, the following is an adaption of a veggie burger

Dear Readers,

If only I posted in a timely manner! My time has been spent moving plants off of my roof to an area behind the building. The volunteer manager was asked about permission, and she didn’t object. We’ll see if there are objections from other owners.

The Good Neighbors Project is a joint initiative of the Jewish and Palestinian

residents of Abu Tor under the auspices of the Greater Baka Community Council.

The project includes joint soccer teams for youth, the teaching of Hebrew and Arabic, a Women’s Forum, and plans for a local economic project an organic garden and a planned cultural festival.

The leadership of the Minhal Kehilati is asking members of our community to join us in this crowdfunding effort to raise the funds necessary to support and expand the soccer teams to include 14-16 year olds.

Please click this link below to learn about the project, to make contribution of whatever amount you feel is appropriate and consider becoming an Ambassador and passing the campaign on to your friends by pressing on the orange button.

If you have children between the ages of 9 and 16 who would be interested in joining this unique team, please contact the coach Taha Bazlamit at 052-2226534 or the volunteer chairman Shimon Dolan at 0548122421

You watch it online. I believe the address to watch it is www.bac.org.il

Thursday November will be the next monthly English shiur. To celebrate 10 years of monthly shiurim we will have both Rabbi Mayer Lichtenstein and Rabbi Chayim Soloveichik stay tune for further details.

Travel through the Judean desert to the Jordan Valley where we will be met by Dr. Shuki Cheled, renown birdwatcher who will accompany us to choice migration stations in the Jordan and Bet Shean valleys.
This is the height of the migration seasonWe will be invited by the Hesder yeshiva in Shedmot Mechola in the Jordan valley for lunch where we will learn about their unique contribution to Jewish life in this frontier area.We will visit Qumran and visit the impressive ruins of the Essenes, authors of the Dead Sea scrolls. We shall see the caves where the scrolls were discovered and see an impressive presentation.Please be prepared to donate 100 shekels to our hosts at the yeshiva who will be sharing lunch with us and subsidizing the tour.

No shows or cancellations later than seventy-two hours before departure will be charged in full.

Coffee Cake with Winter Squash

This recipe will require some extra dishwashing and could use some
kitchen help with the prep work and clean up, but maybe after one try, you
might find it is worth the forethought starting prep the day or morning
before.
The delight it brings to the eyes looking back at you is rewarding!…
Enjoy.

Grind flours just before mixing, sift and cover. (If you have the luxury of
a mill). All the flours mentioned can be purchased.
Yolks and water beaten together.
Whites of eggs beaten stiff.
Oven heated to 375o.
9 inch round cake pan, oiled and floured lightly.

With your hand, mix oil and salt with flour. Add sesame seeds, chopped
walnuts and raisins/currants.
Mix egg yolks with water and add.
Mix all ingredients together well with your hands. Add beaten
whites…don’t over mix.
Spoon into floured cake pan and smooth top with a wet spatula.
Press in a few whole walnuts into the dough in a desire, or sprinkle a
little chestnut flour on top.
Bake 45-60 mins. until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out
clean.
If you find the cake too sweet, use one apple and 1 1/4c. of water.

Source: From Freedom Through Cooking, Teeguarden.

The Ohsawa bread recipe in Macrobiotic Cuisine, Ohsawa, uses the millet
flour and no egg. It is more crumbly and sweet and has suggestions to
add apple or squash.

We are casting for a documentary portion of a feature film about the Dodgers and Giants leaving New York and the birth of the Mets. If you—or anyone you know—are in the NYC area and were heartbroken by any of these teams moving west then here is your chance to vent. We are looking for a few passionate characters to do interviews in Brooklyn with us on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1—Yankee fans need not apply! We would need you to submit a short iPhone video (2 minutes max.) so we can hear your story. Bonus points if you know who Joan Payson is…

Tour with Ezra Rosenfeld:

We will spend two days in the upper Galilee and Golan, mostly visiting Biblical, second Temple, medieval and modern sites which we haven’t yet visited. Dates are Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct 24th and 25th leaving from Jerusalem.
We will stay at the beautiful Amirei HaGalil Hotel – a magnificent, boutique spa-hotel with a chef-restaurant (see their website at http://www.amirey-hagalil.com/en/) which will add a degree of comfort to our overnight stay.
The cost is 1,075 shekels per person (double occupancy) which includes transportation, guide, lodging, entrance fees, dinner on the first night, breakfast and a box lunch on the second day.

**Early bird price of 975 shekels for reservations made and paid for by end of this week. Check with Ezra if early bird still applies.

****Please note that the price will drop by 100 shekels per person if more than 25 people attend.

I met a gentleman who has traveled to every medium to large city in Israel. Seniors pay half fare. Perhaps, he’ll give me an interview.

The above is a link to an August 30, 2017th letter send to parents of the prestigious Trinity School on 91st Street, by Headmaster John Allman. It is a remarkable statement of lay Christian leadership drawing inspiration from an Orthodox Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, for guidance in turning the culture of his school around, one that is often in the press as many high profile families send their children to Trinity, the Kennedy’s for one.

The headmaster, John Allman’s goal is for all to work “Building a Home Together” based on shared values.

He only touches briefly on the pervasive consumer of a private school. He states, “Ought we to educate our students so that they leave us with a commitment not just to advance their own educational interests, but also serve the common good and to give generously to others for the rest of their lives?”

Here’s where he embraces Rabbi Sacks. “Let me offer an idea that seems promising to advance this work, from Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Congregations of Britain and the Commonwealth.

“In his book The Home We Build Together, Sacks argues that we need to reimagine how we envision our understanding of the place of the individual in relation to the community in which we are embedded, to be able to address the challenge of building social cohesion while honoring the dignity of individual differences. He suggests that we abandon the notion of social contract to guide our understanding of community and instead use the notion of covenant to imagine how we imagine our role within our community:

In a contract, what matters is that both gain. In a covenant, what matters is that both give. Contracts are agreements for mutual advantage. They are undertaken by individuals or groups on the basis of self-interest. They have specific purposes and can be terminated by mutual consent. By contrast, covenants are moral commitments, and they are open-ended. They are sustained not by letter of law or by self-interest, but by loyalty, fidelity, faithfulness.

Contract is about entitlement; covenant is about fulfillment.

The contractual view of school is that families pay fees in exchange for the educational skills and credentials their children seek; the covenantal view of school is that families enter into a partnership with the school to build a learning community in which their children will develop their potential to serve others.

Rabbi Sacks further argues that community is created and sustained when we are joined, in covenant, to build a home together:

What matters is that we build something none of us could make alone. And this bringing of distinctive gifts from different individuals to build something larger and better than we could build alone, this commitment to a shared destiny and an acceptance of responsibility to and for one another – the beautiful consequence of this collaboration for a common good is that it brings with it a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose, and a sense of worthy identity.